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Mysterious 'spokes' in Saturn's rings still visible

Washington, May 13 ANI | 1 year ago

The mysterious feature in Saturn's darkest B ring called 'spokes' are still clearly visible in the planet.

These bright features are one of the most intriguing puzzles found by the scientists about the enigmatic ringed gas giant that is still persistent as observed from NASA's Cassini mission, Discovery News reported.

They were first observed during the Voyager spacecraft flybys in the early 1980's and it was realized that these bizarre features that flare out like spokes on a bicycle wheel were not caused by gravitational interactions between the planet, moons or ring material.

It was later observed in 2005 that they were connected to the planet's global magnetic field. It is believed that the charged dust particles suspended above and below the rings are networking with the Saturn's magnetic field and causing the spokes to rotate with the planet's interior spin.

The latest observation was noted in October, 2013 when Cassini zoomed approximately 1.2 million miles (1.9 million kilometers) above Saturn's ring plane.